12-24-2012, 05:07 AM | #316 |
Addict
Posts: 1,215
Karma: 1836966
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Malta, Europe
Device: Marvin for iOS
|
The problem is estimating the length of a book in the library that is unopened. The actual length depends on the formatting and layout settings that wouldn't have been applied yet. Overnight for opened books that have formatting applied, the overall length is a rough approximation.
Regarding the white dots/blue dots idea, that's not too difficult to do, and coming to think of it, very cool. I can fit it into the January update. |
12-24-2012, 07:31 AM | #317 |
pokrývač kridiel
Posts: 1,525
Karma: 3300000
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
Device: 3*iPad, SamsungNote & Tabs, 2*OnyxBoox, Huawei 8″, PocketBook
|
Rough (even very rough) estimates are perfectly fine for the Library view! No one would be counting the precise number of dots, anyway, and if that number of dots changes between before and after first opening a book, so what? A rough, preliminary estimate (you could even say, guess) is still better than no length indication, in my opinion.
If Marvin can't see data such as the number of words in the book before actually opening the book for the first time, you could instruct Marvin to simply use the number of kilobytes in a file to decide on the preliminary number of dots. Naturally, that's imprecise because it doesn't take into account the book's formatting, presence of any images, etc., but it definitely seems better than having no educated guess at all. The numeric progress indicator would be at the precise 0%, of course, the book as yet being unopened. But you might decide, say, that an EPUB file of 500 kilobytes would by default get the full row of 25 dots, while a file of 150 kilobytes size would only get 8 dots, etc. Once a book gets opened for the first time, the number of dots would be adjusted depending on (for example) the number of actual words in the book. Last edited by Faterson; 12-24-2012 at 07:35 AM. |
Advert | |
|
12-24-2012, 07:38 AM | #318 |
Addict
Posts: 296
Karma: 32153
Join Date: Dec 2008
Device: Kindles (e-ink)
|
Honestly, Alexander, I completely disagree.
"Guestimating" the size of the book before opening it and displaying pretty much useless and completely inaccurate data seems worse to me (and detrimental to the user experience) than having no size indication at all. Displaying the size in Kb or something won't help either since, as you said yourself, images, etc. will make that vary greatly between books. |
12-24-2012, 08:01 AM | #319 |
Addict
Posts: 1,215
Karma: 1836966
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Malta, Europe
Device: Marvin for iOS
|
A small something for after the holidays...
|
12-24-2012, 08:02 AM | #320 |
Addict
Posts: 296
Karma: 32153
Join Date: Dec 2008
Device: Kindles (e-ink)
|
That looks nice, Kris, thanks! :-)
|
Advert | |
|
12-24-2012, 08:04 AM | #321 |
Addict
Posts: 1,215
Karma: 1836966
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Malta, Europe
Device: Marvin for iOS
|
And at Adrian's request...
|
12-24-2012, 08:05 AM | #322 |
pokrývač kridiel
Posts: 1,525
Karma: 3300000
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
Device: 3*iPad, SamsungNote & Tabs, 2*OnyxBoox, Huawei 8″, PocketBook
|
Well, OK, Wulf. Could we then, perhaps, agree on the following behaviour as the most rational and most useful?
Last edited by Faterson; 12-24-2012 at 08:13 AM. |
12-24-2012, 08:11 AM | #323 |
pokrývač kridiel
Posts: 1,525
Karma: 3300000
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
Device: 3*iPad, SamsungNote & Tabs, 2*OnyxBoox, Huawei 8″, PocketBook
|
PS: Nice screenshots, Kris, except that they suggest that Crime and Punishment and Heart of Darkness are as if of equal length, although (as we know) the first is a mamooth novel, and the second a slim volume. If you only displayed the dots after a book actually gets opened for the first time, you might adjust the number of dots to correspond to the approximate length of a book, as proposed above.
|
12-24-2012, 08:12 AM | #324 |
Addict
Posts: 1,215
Karma: 1836966
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Malta, Europe
Device: Marvin for iOS
|
Still looking into that. I still haven't figured out a reliable way to determine the relative sizes of books.
|
12-24-2012, 08:14 AM | #325 |
Addict
Posts: 296
Karma: 32153
Join Date: Dec 2008
Device: Kindles (e-ink)
|
Well, Alexander, personally, I agree with either of those two approaches but it's Kris' "baby" and he probably saw both our arguments and will decide what he likes best.
(As for the leaving books unopened for long - same here. The other night, I read a book till 2:30 am because I just "had" to finish it And, as you know, I'm a staunch supporter of using the cloud to store ebooks instead keeping tons of ebooks in the ebook reader.) |
12-24-2012, 08:17 AM | #326 |
Addict
Posts: 1,215
Karma: 1836966
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Malta, Europe
Device: Marvin for iOS
|
I think it is very interesting to know how big a book is relative to another so this is something that I will actively investigate. It's just that I haven't found a way yet. Maybe I'll have "a moment of clarity" after this evening's party
|
12-24-2012, 08:19 AM | #327 |
pokrývač kridiel
Posts: 1,525
Karma: 3300000
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
Device: 3*iPad, SamsungNote & Tabs, 2*OnyxBoox, Huawei 8″, PocketBook
|
Hmmm... but there must be a way, right? Otherwise, there would be no way to get at the value of the numeric progress indicator. If it says (for example) 5%, then there must be a value corresponding to 100%... and you could use whatever corresponds to 100% to decide about the number of dots to show for a book. As mentioned, a very rough estimate would do for the Library view, and I don't see why the number of dots displayed could not be (slightly) re-adjusted between readings (book openings), if necessary.
|
12-24-2012, 08:20 AM | #328 |
Addict
Posts: 1,215
Karma: 1836966
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Malta, Europe
Device: Marvin for iOS
|
Yes, that's my line of reasoning. Will keep you updated.
|
12-24-2012, 09:08 AM | #329 |
Connoisseur
Posts: 74
Karma: 342
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: England
Device: Imac, iPhone SE, iPad Air 2, Ipad Mini, Ipad Pro, Sony 650.
|
Kris
Thank you I like the screen shot for the author search function can this also be available (now or later) for author_sort I always find it frustrating when authors are sorted by first names regards adrian |
12-24-2012, 09:13 AM | #330 |
Addict
Posts: 1,215
Karma: 1836966
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Malta, Europe
Device: Marvin for iOS
|
Adrian, the "jump to letter" function is already available for the Author, Author Sort, Title, Title Sort and Calibre Series fields.
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
iPad users: Meet Marvin, an iOS ePub reader | GRiker | Devices | 4 | 06-20-2013 10:16 AM |
Workflows to use Calibre with iOS Apps: Good Reader-PDFs, Marvin-epub, Kindle-mobi? | crashnburn | Calibre | 4 | 06-14-2013 04:49 PM |
Calibre metadata not seen by Marvin on iPad | bubbas45 | Apple Devices | 13 | 06-10-2013 09:19 PM |
Best Epub reader for Ipad 2 ? | JPS | Apple Devices | 39 | 07-27-2012 03:55 AM |
Best 2-up landscape ePub reader for ipad | provis | Apple Devices | 5 | 11-06-2011 12:09 AM |